Vulnerability

How many of the goals we’ve conceded recently have come from our left flank/inside left channel?

Derby: both

Sunderland… can’t remember… all three?

Reading!

Liverpool: both

Overly simplistic, but Stalteri and Hughes’ side hasn’t been breached for some time. Sure, it’s a team game, but this looks like a trend to me.

Illumination, for pissing against, whatever

In response to a post on TiFF that Danny Murphy does not pass to teammates:

Name	Passes	To teammate	Percentage
Jenas	1224	1023	0.84
Essien	1147	945	0.82
Bullard	683	551	0.81
Alonso	985	787	0.8
Murphy	1101	844	0.77
Ballack	616	469	0.76
Barton	751	561	0.75
Diop	849	610	0.72
Brown	860	615	0.72
Barry	1305	927	0.71
Arteta	990	703	0.71
Davies	1017	706	0.69

Of course there’s more to football than this.  But I fear we see a lot of selective memory induced groaning with Danny.   His passing is about where you’d expect it to be for a midfielder.   He doesn’t tackle all that much but he’s not the reason we don’t win every week.

Must read

Absolutely first rate article from David James about relegation.

I can honestly say that relegation is the single most traumatic experience you can have in a football career. Every single psychological condition awaits you. A creeping feeling of worry sweeps through the club as players wonder how their future might be affected. Will they be forced to jump ship? Which club will have them?

You feel guilt: what could I have done to prevent this situation? Even now, five years on from that season with West Ham, I have not quite shaken it off. This may sound mad, but the other week at Upton Park I still felt the urge to apologise.

Wow.

If there’s one thing that really annoys me at the moment is the constant carping that the players don’t care, that they’re not trying hard enough, that there’s not enough passion.

a) how the hell do the people saying this know?

b) is it not possible that the players care too much, and are inhibited as a result?

The Fulham squad cares about being relegated.   It might not be good enough to avoid being relegated, but yesterday, this month, this season, they’ve done their best to win football matches.   In England we have a habit of equating mindless action and therefore effort with success.   We don’t mind if a team loses as long as it gives the impression of having done its best.

But a team can try just as hard in a controlled manner.  Sure Liverpool might have found it harder had our players clattered them a few times.   Or, they might have just got up and got on with passing around our players and making them chase shadows.   It’s all well and good saying that the players don’t care, but as David James says, relegation doesn’t do anyone any good.   Yes, presumably there will be some players who will be chatting to their agent and plotting their route away from Fulham – that’s human nature – but there will be others, as Moritz Volz suggested in the Times this week, who can’t stop thinking about the mess they’re in, who would do anything for another six points.

Fulham 0-2 Liverpool

It was a massive game and the occasion seemed to get to the players. For Fulham to have a chance we needed to see fluency like we saw at Reading, and luck like… well, no, there has been no luck. Everyone had to play well, but unfortunately the usually reliable Kasey Keller chose today to make his first mistakes of the season and two of Liverpool’s three shots got past him. Sometimes goalkeeping can be very unforgiving.

The first was a stunner. In the first quarter of an hour Fulham, particularly the impressive Dempsey, had taken the game by the scruff of the neck and were positive, vibrant and determined. But a simple ball through the defence allowed Pennant to get the wrong side of Hangeland (whose anticipation and recovery might be questioned if we’re being harsh). From the edge of the area the winger let fly and the net bulged at Keller’s near post. The ‘keeper had not moved, seemingly sure that the ball was going wide. Keller brings a lot to the team and has been an asset in recent weeks, but he should have stopped that.

This killed the game, and therefore the season. From here Fulham huffed and puffed but the crowd was downhearted and the red defence was everywhere. The situation almost cried out for some chaos, some hustle and bustle, but instead Fulham persisted on trying to pass their way through this most impressive of teams, and predictably got nowhere. Javier Mascherano, like Owen Hargreaves a few weeks ago, saw everything, stopped it, then recycled the ball well. It was a joyous performance from this strange but brilliant footballer.

Fulham had chances but scuffed them all. McBride mishit a volley from a few yards out, Healy did the same. The pair linked up quite well but were not dangerous. McBride really could not make an impression on the game and his substitution came later than his performance deserved. Equally disappointing was Simon Davies, so devastating against Reading, but now completely nullified by Liverpool. He switched flanks, he roamed, but everywhere he went someone in a red shirt was there and able to stop him. This led to a lot of possession being recycled between Hangeland, Hughes, Stalteri and Konchesky. It went back, forth, then long and wayward. Benitez, even for a minor game such as this, presumably set his side up to make this happen. On the occasions where Bullard and Murphy could get the ball they were harried into the easy out ball, which was usually back to Hangeland or Konchesky, and the futility went on.

Clint Dempsey stood out. As usual he had the dirtiest jersey at full time, and was the Fulham player most likely to make something happen. Early on he ran fast and direct and panicked the Liverpool defence. Later he won good headers in difficult positions, but was unable to find the target. He also hit an early left footed shot that deflected agonisingly wide with Reina beaten. The Liverpool goalkeeper’s only other scare came when Murphy was put through, but the former Liverpool player’s shot was diverted wide by Reina’s shin. It came with 15 minutes to go and was probably our only good chance to retrieve the situation.

Liverpool were good enough. They benefitted from a soft opener that meant they could coast and defend, then scored a soft second (Keller seemed to be surprised by Crouch’s less than deadly finish) and will be very pleased at picking up three points so easily.

The season is still saveable, but three wins will probably be required from three games.